10 Iconic Video Game Moments You Had NO Idea Were Taken From Movies

9. Resident Evil - Zombie Reveal

Uncharted 3
Capcom

Inspired by: Zombi 2 (1979)

Any horror buff will be hard-pressed to name a more iconic zombie reveal than the one in Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 - the grimy Italian classic where eyeballs get skewered, zombies fight sharks, and everything’s soaked in sleaze. It’s not the best zombie film, but it’s a cult classic through and through - and one that left its mark on Resident Evil in a very unexpected way.

Turns out, the games director Shinji Mikami absolutely hated Fulci’s film. He disliked its obsession with gore and effects over mood or tension. And yet… he also lifted its most iconic scene, beat for beat.

In both the film and the game, a character stumbles upon a zombie hunched over a body. The creature slowly turns its head — neck cracking, blood dripping - and just stares. Same shot, same rhythm, same dread-soaked pause before it lunges.

Whatever Mikami felt about Fulci’s style, he couldn’t ignore the power of that moment. And in borrowing it, he helped define survival horror for an entire generation. Who knew the game that kickstarted a genre would owe its most famous scare to a movie its creator couldn’t stand?

Contributor

is a working dad by day and a determined gamer by night. He’s paid his dues in both the gaming and film industries, and this year his first feature film as screenwriter, the Polish slasher flick "13 Days Till Summer", played at Fantastic Fest and Sitges Film Festival.